A woman in a luxury hotel at an Asian beach resort goes for a wander - it's an idyllic and beautiful setting but there is something ominous in the air. Suddenly, before she or the street vendors can get away to safety, a huge tsunami comes rolling towards them, sweeping up everything in its path.

For six decades, virtually from the birth of American television, Len Lesser toiled as a jobbing actor, his height, sharp features and strong Bronx accent always making his presence felt, even in small roles. He plied his trade for some 41 years before, finally, in his late sixties, his talent in a small comedy role on the hit show Seinfeld propelled him to a modicum of well-deserved fame.

The culmination of a 30-year-long collaboration between Clint Eastwood and the critic and documentary film-maker Michael Henry Wilson, Eastwood on Eastwood is a rare and intimate recount of the actor and director's prolific career.

Sir Michael Wilshaw, who is the Government's favourite teacher and the head of Mossbourne Academy in Hackney – where 10 pupils this year have been offered Oxbridge places – has revealed the name of his role model: Clint Eastwood.

The Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, has vowed to bring closure to one of the Second World War's most notorious and iconic episodes, promising to bring home the remains of the 12,000 soldiers still missing after the battle of Iwo Jima.

Clint Eastwood is not a fan of 3-D movies. The 80-year-old actor and director believes 3-D - which requires cinemagoers to wear glasses to be able to see a film in three dimensional space - does have a place in the movie world but he has never found reason to use it in one of his films.

Clint Eastwood's eagerly awaited new film approaches the subject of death and the afterlife in an uncanny, unusual and very moving way. Geoffrey Macnab celebrates the Hollywood veteran's boldness and laments cinema's frequent reluctance to face the hereafter

Bill Gold's posters have become almost as iconic as the movies they promote. As a book of the designer's work is released, Clint Eastwood pays tribute to a creative collaborator and a true Hollywood hero

Lonesome Dove is the 1985 Pulitzer Prize-winning Western novel written by Larry McMurtry. It is an epic story about two former Texas rangers who decide to move cattle from the south to Montana. Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call run into many problems on the way, and the journey ends with numerous casualties. Four years later it was made into a four-part TV mini-series, which won seven Emmy Awards and was nominated for 12 others. And what a wonderful thing it is.

He may have retired from acting, but Gene Hackman isn't about to go gentle into that good night. Since his final film, 2004's less-than-welcome Welcome to Mooseport, the star, now 80, has been at his desk writing. Hackman has announced that his first solo novel, a Western called Jubal's Bounty, is to be published by Simon & Schuster next summer.

As the body behind the stunts of five-time Oscar winner Clint Eastwood until well into his sixties, Laura Davis talks to 81 year-old Buddy Van Horn about what it was like to work for the western legend throughout his expansive career